Sound systems can be broken down into three general components: an input device, such as a microphone; a processing system; and an output device, such as a speaker. Sounds are picked up by the microphone, transmitted to the processing system where they are processed, and then projected by the speaker so that the sounds can be heard at an appropriate distance. Both the microphone and the speaker are generally considered to be transducers. One application of the sound system is a hearing aid.
A transducer is a device that transforms one form of energy into another form of energy. In the case of a microphone, sound energy, which can be detected by the human ear in the range of 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz, is transformed into electrical energy in the form of an electrical signal. The electrical signal can then be processed by a processing system. After the signal is processed, the speaker transforms the electrical energy in the electrical signal to sound energy again.
Before reaching the processing system, the electrical signal is amplified by a preamplifier using a certain gain. However, if the electrical signal already represents a powerful sound energy, the amplified electrical signal may be at a level beyond the linear operating range of the signal processing circuitry following the preamplifier. To limit the electrical signal to the operating range of the signal processing circuitry, an automatic gain control is used.
The automatic gain control detects the level of the waveform of the electrical signal, compares the level to a threshold, and adjusts the gain of the preamplifier to decrease the level of the electrical signal if the envelope is higher than the threshold. When the level is below the threshold, the automatic gain control increases the gain to its uncompressed level.
However, the automatic gain control, which is supposed to help, also hinders by adding undesired distortions to the electrical signal. These undesired distortions are frustrating to users of sound systems in general, but are particularly debilitating for users of hearing aids since these users depend upon such aids to maintain their ability to communicate. Without an acceptable solution to the undesired distortions, the optimum level of performance desired by the end user will not be achieved.
Thus, what are needed are systems, devices, and methods to inhibit AGC-induced distortions in sound systems, such as hearing aids.
Automatic gain control may further frustrate users of sound systems by compressing the input signal to prevent overload of circuit elements such as analog to digital converters. Compressing a signal means reducing the amplitude of the signal so that the signal remains below a threshold. The application of the gain to reduce the signal amplitude is typically non-linearly applied. Thus, the automatic gain control introduces distortion into the signal. Distorting the amplitude of the signal may also distort the information contained in the compressed portion of the input signal. This is particularly undesirable of users of hearing aids. It is believed that some of the information contained in a hearing aid input signal may be contained in the compressed portion of the input signal. A hearing aid wearer would not receive the information in the compressed portion of the input signal. Obviously, such a loss would be detrimental to a hearing aid wearer.
Thus, what are further needed are systems, devices, and methods to recover AGC-induced distortions while storing the information contained in the original input signal that is lost due to compression in sound systems, such as hearing aids. More particularly, what is needed is a system to reverse the effects of non-linear application of the gain during compression to thereby reconstruct the original signal.